Now (almost) showing: ‘TvFILM’

Months of work — including a few hours of mine — have gone into the new WMHT Ch.
17 series “TvFILM,” a new six-episode anthology debuting at 10 p.m. Thursday night. The program presents a cross-section of films – ranging from narrative
to avant-garde work, fiction as well as documentary – as well as interviews with the
filmmakers.

”TvFILM” is hosted by local independent filmmaker Brandon Bethmann, who co-produced with the show’s director, Dan Swinton. “We knew there were quite a few independent filmmakers in the area that were producing some very good films. We wanted to give them a place where they could showcase their work to a larger audience that might not realize the quality of independent films that are being produced in
this area. We think these films may surprise a lot of people.”

Based on my familiarity with several of the titles listed below, he’s right. WMHT should be congratulated for creating a forum for the work emerging from the boom in regional filmmaking.

Here’s a program guide; each episode repeats at midnight on Saturdays:

Tonight: “Silver Lining” by Ben Alpi; “Seven Days of Samsara”
by Travis Breitenbach; “Confessions of a Conflicted Filmmaker” by Eleanor Goldsmith.

July 17: “Sittin’ on a Million” by Penny Lane. (See the post below for more on this title.)

I served on the capacious panel that whittled down the 75 entries to the 15 submitted for broadcast, although my service was woefully curtailed (just one critique session, dang it) by work on our recent Best of the Capital Region section — which featured short films from Yost, Camoin, Lane and West. I hope they’ll have me back — the sandwiches were excellent. Also the filmmaking.

A detailed description of each of the films and Bethmann’s blog about the project can be found here. “TvFILM” was funded by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts with additional support from the Spectrum 8 Theatres, First Fridays in Ballston Spa and Jacob’s Pillow.